Improvement in boxes foe transporting plants



J. JENKINS.

Transplanting Box.

Patented Mar 12. 1867.

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JOSHUA JENKINS, OF SALEM, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND SAMUEL WILLIAMS,OF THE SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent 1V0. 62,751, dated .March 12, 1867.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, JoSHUA JENKINS, of Salem, in the county ofOolumbiana, and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulimprovements in Transplanting-Boxes; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full and complete description of the construction of thesame, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, making a part ofthis specification, in which Figure 1 is perspective view of the case inwhich thelboxes are carried.

Figure 2 isa view of two long transplanting-boxes.

Figure 3 is a view. of four short ones.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the views. I

A,'fig. 1, is an oblong square wooden box or case, which may be, inlength, breadth, and depth, more or less as convenience may determine.One side of this box is hinged to the bottom, so-that it can openoutward and downward until it becomes straight with the bottom. Fig. 1shows this side as being partially opened; this box will be referred tohereafter. Figs. 2 and 3 are the transplanting-boxes proper. Fig. 2consists simply of two pieces of board or thin plank 6f a few inches inwidth, some four or five for the bottom B, and two or three for the sideD, and are nailed together, the narrow piece D tothe edge of the bottom,forming together a right angle; two such are represented in the drawingas being placed side by side, the back of the one forming a second sideto the bottom of the'other. Fig. 3 is four boxes constructed andarranged in the same way as the above; these short boxes may be arrangedin any other position desirable to suit the convenience of those usingthem.

Having thus described the boxes, the manner of using them is as follows:The boxes are buried in the sand bank of the green-house in the same wayas are the small pots in ordinary use, and are arranged in the/samemanner, as above shown; the number being more or less, as the amount ofwork may require. The bones on being properly arranged in the bath, thecuttings, seed, or roots are then placed in them in the same manner andwith the same care as required in the use of the pets. The long boxesare designed for layers or lengthy roots, the small ones for singlecuttings, seed, or bulbs. When the plants are ready to be removed fromthe bath, should it be one in the long box it is taken out by raising itgently at one enduntil it is loosened from its companion boxes; then itmay he lifted entirely out without in the least disturbing thoseadjoining. When thus removed it is then placed in the case A, abovedescribed, the side of which being opened it is easily slid in and theside shut, thereby preventing the loose dirt from crumbling or breakingaway from the root while being carried to be transplanted, which is doneby sliding it carefully from the box into the trench or hole pre. paredfor its reception. In this way the transplanting is performed safelywithout disturbing in the least the earth about the roots of the youngplant. Should the small boxes be removed from the sand bath, they can betaken out without disturbing the adjoining boxes, as in the case of thelong ones, and when taken out are placed in the case A, the open endsagainst the sides, so that when in the case the back of one forms theside of the other one; when thus in, the sides of the case form thethird and fourth sides, as shown in fig. 1. They may now be carried,without danger of disturbing the earth about the root, to the placewhere they are to be trans planted. The removing of them from the casein order to transplant them is as follows: The case is laid by thetrench or hole in which the plants are to be set, the side let down, theboxes can then be easily taken from the case and the plant slippedofi'from the box into the holes without inverting them, as is necessaryin the old method of transplanting from pots.

It will be seen by this that we substitute the boxes for the ordinarypropagating pots, which under the most favorable treatment are bothinconvenient, expensive, and liable to break. Also in using the pot itis necessary to invert it in order to remove the plant fortransplanting, and this, owing to the lightness of the earth in whichthey are started, cannot be done without more or less disturbing theroot, which, as a consequence, checks the growth'of the plant. By thismeans the transplanting is done without this injury, it being removedwholly, as in the pot, by sliding it from the box to the hole withouthandling or inverting it for that purpose.

What I claim as my improvement, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

A transplanting-box, constructed and arranged substantially as and forthe purpose specified.

JOSHUA JENKINS.

Attest:

W. H. BURRIDGE, I. HOLMES.

